Only five months into his two-season contract, Bush Bucks coach Bruce Grobbelaar has quit his post, amid a string of poor results.
Grobbelaar’s resignation comes after club boss Sturu Pasiya had expressed dissatisfaction with Bucks’ 3-1 loss to Golden Arrows last week.
Pasiya said that the loss was due to a blunder by technical staff when they substituted a player five minutes before the break when they could have waited for the interval to correct his mistakes.
On Wednesday Grobbelaar refused to say why he had opted out, saying his resignation was amicable.
When pressed to answer if he quit voluntarily he said: ”Absolutely not. I had no intention of resigning but during the meeting certain aspects made me to take the decision to resign.”
Asked if he had failed at Bucks, the former Liverpool goalie said the facts supported him and that he’d made big contribution to the club.
Under Grobbelaar’s guidance Bucks won three, drew three and lost four league games. They are currently rooted at the bottom of the log, with nine games still to play.
Grobbelaar was optimistic that he would have saved the club from relegation from the nine games left.
”There is no doubt in my mind that I would have saved this club. I wish the players all the best and I hope they will fight for survival.”
Pasiya on Wednesday referred all queries to club general manager Lester Phiti who confirmed that Grobbelaar had tendered his resignation because of a spate of poor results.
Phiti said the club had reached an agreement with Grobbelaar to settle the terms of his contract.
”Remember there are labour laws which protect everybody in this country,” he said.
”Bush Bucks want to thank Mr Grobbelaar for the contribution he made to the club, but we cannot deny the fact that the club was going through a bad run.”
Phiti said the club was looking for a replacement ”and we will have a new coach before our next league game against Black Leopards”.
He refused to disclose any likely candidates but it’s rumoured that Bucks have been trying to get Viktor Bondarenko to return to the hot-seat after he quit over a complaint of the club’s failure to buy quality players when they were still based in Umthatha.
Phiti said assistant coach William Mugeyi, team manager Nigel Dixon and player-cum-team-doctor Tauya Mrewa would act as temporary joint coaches when Bucks play Spurs in an Absa Cup competition game this weekend. – Sapa